Personality Assessment Features Prominently in NBA Draft

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By assessing almost 50% of the 2014 NBA draft picks, Caliper provided critical insights to help teams pick future champions.

"You have to look at the player as a whole to see if they have what it takes.” - Herb Greenberg, Ph.D.

Princeton, NJ (PRWEB)July 04, 2014

The 2014 NBA Draft pick on June 26th was a well-watched event. Behind the scenes, many team franchises use psychometric and other tools to determine if their scouts have the “right fit.” Last week, Caliper announced that almost half of the 60 players who took part in the NBA Draft took the Caliper Profile as part of the evaluation process.

Caliper’s Founder and CEO Herb Greenberg, Ph.D was featured last week in Fortune Magazine in a retrospective on the assessment and consulting firm he found 53 years ago this August. Greenberg, who previously owned a minor league basketball team, has been working with NBA teams for over 30 years to help them identify the intangibles that can determine if a player reaches his full potential – or cracks under pressure.

Herb states, “There is so much that goes into whether a player can fulfill the promise scouts see during the draft process. Things like aggressiveness, competitiveness, and reliance can be traits that make or break someone. Players who lack some of these personality characteristics can succumb to self-doubt, injuries, or continually foul out. Physical talent isn’t always enough.”

He continues, “I saw that time after time when I owned the Trenton Shooting Stars basketball team. By using the Caliper Profile, I was able to find diamonds in the rough. Some of the players I picked for the team went on to have careers in the NBA and Europe. You have to look at the player as a whole to see if they have what it takes.”

Ricardo Roman, who is Caliper’s sports consultant, relates, “These teams spend a lot of money on these players—it’s a huge investment. To only assess their ability to play the game would be short sighted; you have to know the whole person, what drives them, and how they’ll get through the inevitable losing streak or slump.”

In addition to the NBA, Caliper has spent decades working with baseball, hockey and football teams, at both the college and professional level.

More about Caliper’s work with college, minor and major league sports can be found at calipercorp.com.